News
Mystery of the Golden Ratio Explained
December 21, 2009 5:53 am | by Duke University | CommentsThe Egyptians supposedly used it to guide the construction the Pyramids. The architecture of ancient Athens is thought to have been based on it. Fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon tried to unravel its mysteries in the novel The Da Vinci Code. “It” is the golden ratio, a geometric
ACS wins $22 million automated toll contract
December 21, 2009 5:00 am | by The Associated Press | CommentsAffiliated Computer Services Inc. said Monday it has won two contracts worth a total of $22 million to provide automated tolls in North Carolina.ACS, an outsourcing firm that agreed to a takeover by Xerox Corp. in September, said it will design, install and help run the system for the North...
Making New Enzymes to Engineer Plants for Biofuel Production
December 21, 2009 4:52 am | by Brookhaven National Laboratory | CommentsBrookhaven scientists have created a new enzyme with the potential to interfere with a key cell-wall component in plants, possibly leading to plants that are easier to “digest” and convert to biofuels.
Panasonic completes Sanyo acquisition
December 21, 2009 4:00 am | by The Associated Press | CommentsPanasonic Corp. said Monday that it had taken majority control of Sanyo Electric Co., officially forming one of the world's largest electronics makers.Panasonic said it had converted preferred shares to give it a 50.27 percent stake in Sanyo. It acquired the shares in a previously announced...
Hollywood adds money, talent to made-for-Web shows
December 20, 2009 10:00 am | by RYAN NAKASHIMA - AP Business Writer - Associated Press | CommentsWeb sites that buy original video clips often pay so little that "The Bannen Way," a flashy crime thriller debuting online, looked destined to be made poorly if it could be made at all.Yet budding filmmakers Jesse Warren and Mark Gantt managed to hire 40-odd staff, including a boom operator,...
'Avatar' blasts off with $232.2 million worldwide
December 20, 2009 9:00 am | by DAVID GERMAIN - AP Movie Writer - Associated Press | CommentsJames Cameron launched his science-fiction epic "Avatar" into a safe orbit as the costly film soared to No. 1 with $73 million domestically and $159.2 million overseas, for a $232.2 million worldwide total.With that big a start, distributor 20th Century Fox was quick to proclaim it made a good...
Global Temperatures Could Rise More Than Expected, New Study Shows
December 20, 2009 8:52 am | by Yale University | CommentsThe kinds of increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide taking place today could have a significantly larger effect on global temperatures than previously thought, according to a new study led by Yale University geologists. Their findings appear December 20 in the advanced online edition of...
Switchable Nanostructures Made with DNA
December 20, 2009 8:52 am | by Brookhaven National Laboratory | CommentsUsing synthetic DNA “linkers,” Brookhaven scientists have built switchable, responsive nanostructures that could be useful as biosensors, in solar cells, and as new materials for data storage.
Soren Bisgaard 1951-2009
December 20, 2009 8:51 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsSoren Bisgaard died earlier this month of cancer. Soren was a student (Ph.D., statistics) of my father’s who shared the commitment to using applied statistics to improve people’s lives. I know this seem odd to many (I tried to describe this idea previously and read his...
NREL Sets the Bar for Office Building Energy Use
December 20, 2009 5:53 am | by National Renewable Energy Laboratory | CommentsWhen NREL decided to build a new office building, the national lab turned to its experts to establish a new energy use benchmark. The lab's researchers knew what they wanted - the request for proposals included 780 pages of specifications. The resulting Research Support Facility sets the...
NREL Works with Truckers to Reduce Fuel Use
December 20, 2009 5:53 am | by National Renewable Energy Laboratory | CommentsExcessive idling of trucks has been identified as a source of wasted fuel; NREL is working with the trucking industry to find big savings.
New Labs to Concentrate on Solar Thermal Energy
December 20, 2009 5:52 am | by National Renewable Energy Laboratory | CommentsDOE funds facilities to advance concentrating solar power technologies; global capacity could reach 20 gigawatts by 2020.
General Dynamics in deal to enhance Army vehicles
December 18, 2009 2:00 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsGeneral Dynamics has won a $134 million Army contract for work to improve up to 550 Stryker combat vehicles.The eight-wheel-drive Stryker built by General Dynamics is in use in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the contract includes design, engineering and production work to update and enhance the...
You got C in my L. No, you got L in my C
December 18, 2009 1:52 pm | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsJust another tale of a poor little capacitor feeling lonely and trying look up to a big inductor for advice and guidance. Sadly, Henry, the inductor rebuffed the little uf with nary a word and kept his emf to himself....
Cornellians build computer climate-change model
December 18, 2009 12:52 pm | by Cornell University | CommentsResearchers are contributing to a new model of climate change that may give more accurate predictions of the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth's future.
